HUGE hot button for me

[mstang67chic]

Monday morning there was a very tragic accident in this area. A car with 5 teens in it was T-Boned and the driver, a 17 year old pregnant girl was killed. The other 4 (her siblings) are all in the hospital as is the driver of the other vehicle. Generally I don't watch the news but get most of my information from various news web sites. While scanning one of our local station's web site, I read the article and noticed the picture that was posted with it. It's a shot of the car containing the kids with emergency crew members surrounding it. They are clearly still working to get the driver out. How can I tell?

Because her ARM is clearly visible, draped over the steering wheel.

I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE these kinds of pictures and don't understand why they are printed/shown/posted. I've got some personal experiences with this kind of thing but even before those times, I've never seen the need for this kind of thing. I can't imagine being her parents and seeing this.

I had to wait a couple of days to calm down a bit but tonight I fired off a letter to the station. I basically said they were callous, inappropriate, crossed one heck of a line and showed absolutely no regard or compassion for this poor girl and her family. I doubt that it will accomplish a single thing but I hope that at least one person feels some guilt and shame over it.

 

[Jena]

Good for you! I totally agree when it comes to that type of ridiculous "journalism" is it what they call it??

 

[Shari]

I totally agree. DEX was an EMT and one of the HUGE things I disliked about him was how he seemed to use it to glorify himself - down to gory details about a crash. Those "victims" are people, with lives - how must that kind of stuff feel....oh...I'm with you. I'd boycott that paper for a while, at least. Maybe a letter to the editor stating so.

 

[KTMom91]

I feel the same way. It tees me off when they "won't identify the victim", but then have a shot of their house, or car, or something else. The police haven't told me about my family member killed yet, but I see the car, license plate and all, or the house...only an idiot wouldn't figure it out. So disrespectful of the friends and families.

 

[WhymeMom?]

Unfortunately I happened on this accident as I was driving out of town....... There were no ambulances or tow trucks, so I assumed it was well after the accident had happened.....but how did I know it was a fatality? Laying on the ground by the car was a blue blanket draped over a body....... she was still there ....... now I get why they didn't put her in an ambulance and rush her away, but it was a grizzley scene...... Also I don't know why they had to publicize the fact she was pregnant, six months to be specific..... Can't imagine the pain her family is already going through with all the kids in the car being from the same family! Maybe I'm just too old fashioned, but this news came from the coroner's office...... a different thing if the family had reported it......

 

[mrscatinthehat]

I really hate that. Almost as much as the follow up with the family. When they show them in all their grief and ask them questions that just makes me want to scream. Leave them the frick alone.

beth

 

[mstang67chic]

WhyMeMom....OMG....I couldn't imagine driving up on that. How awful.

I did hear back from the tv station. This is the body of the email response I got:

The photo in question you e-mailed about has been pulled. It’s inclusion was not intentional and I looked at the picture multiple times and never noticed the arm, but if one person finds it offensive, than it’s offensive.



I just hope they understood that I didn't complain because of me.....but because of the family. I just thought it was extremely disrespectful and I hope the family didn't see it.

 

[Anaheimfan]

First off, Whymemom, I am very sorry that you had to happen upon that scene...No one needs to see something like that. And I am glad that you had the picture pulled from the Station.

Reporters can be a rail pain in the--insert body part here--on the scene of an accident. And they won't go for a mild picture of the wrecked vehicle or firefighters/paramedics extricating someone, they will go for the most gruesome shot they can get. It really is sickening. And I have written my share of letters to newspapers, and I have shoed many a photographer away from grizzly wrecks. (Not to mention a group of shutter bugs who were trying to get a picture of a paramedic--whom I know very well--being extricated from a wrecked Ambulance)

When my dad joined the Fire Department in 1987, there was a wreck, two people died. A tourist driving by got some of the extrication, and a "nice" shot of one of the deceased (And I will say that this was a very gruesome accident). The police Constable doing Traffic Duty actually removed the video cassette from the camera, and did a little tapdance on it.

All in all, reporters don't exactly think about who they are going to offend with their photographs, they just want to be the one to get the "good" shot for Page 1...Personally, I think that any reporter who photographs a deceased person without permission from the family or Emergency personnel on scene should be charged with Invasion of Privacy or something along those lines.

Again, Whymemom, I am sorry you had to see that, if you need to talk about it, feel free to PM me.